The Congress on Friday (September 4, 2026) hailed the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for the successful launch of the country’s first-ever imaging satellite in geo-orbit and accused the Modi government of undertaking a “radical role reconfiguration” that will “change the very character” of the Indian space agency.
In a post on X, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “Congratulations to the entire @isro team on the successful GSLV-F17/EOS-05 mission! EOS-05, India’s first imaging satellite, from Geosynchronous orbit, will further strengthen our Earth Observation capabilities that we have been developing for years.
“We are immensely proud of our scientists, space engineers and researchers whose dedication and ingenuity continue to take India’s space programme to greater heights,” the Congress chief said.
Mr. Mr. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said that after a relatively quiet period, ISRO successfully launched its GSLV rocket from Sriharikota early this morning to put an advanced Earth-imaging satellite weighing 2367 kg into orbit.
The Congress party has always remained deeply committed to scientific temper and space research, he said. “The makers of modern India laid the foundations of our space programme with vision and foresight, and generations of our scientists have built upon that legacy with remarkable achievements,” Mr. Kharge said. “The entire nation should salute ISRO’s deep resilience and wish it all success in coming endeavours, whatever those may be, under the radical role reconfiguration taking place at the instance of the PMO that will change the very character of this inspirational public institution that has done the country proud for decades in the face of tremendous odds,” the Congress leader said on X. The Congress last month had accused the Modi government of “strangulating and emasculating” ISRO and slammed it for pursuing an “aggressive privatisation agenda” for the space programme. Ramesh had said there have been news reports in the past couple of days on ISRO’s future role in our country’s space programme. Ramesh had claimed that the Modi government has an “aggressive privatisation agenda” for the space programme just as it had for nuclear energy.
